UES residents ousted due to Second Avenue subway construction

Residents at 1873 Second Avenue received a temporary relocation notice informing them they will have to be out of their apartments for 30 to 60 days due to construction at the adjacent building of an air vent for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Second Avenue subway project at 1875 Second Avenue.

The letter, dated March 19, does not indicate when the residents in the 12-unit Bradford N. Swett Management-managed building between 96th and 97th streets will have to clear out of their apartments, but a spokesperson for the MTA said it hoped construction would begin some time next month (see full letter below).

“This is devastating. I don’t want to move. If I move it would have to be for good and I can’t afford that. I have been in this apartment for 10 years and have always paid my rent and I just can’t believe something like this could happen. I heard about things like this happening in Brooklyn, but never thought it could happen to me. I know your readers are influential and I hope some of them could read this and help us,” a tenant in the building, who asked for anonymity, said.

The MTA assures in the letter that it will pay for the cost of relocation, temporary housing and the restoration of their apartments.

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The MTA says it will be holding a meeting for tenants to meet with O.R. Colan Associates regarding the moves.

“That building required remedial work that will improve the soil and reinforce the building,” MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz told The Real Deal. He said the building was structurally weak because of preexisting conditions and the bottom wall was shifting.

The tenants will have to be out of the building while the basement wall is reinforced and the facade repaired, Ortiz said.

An employee at Bradford N. Swett Management, who did not want to be identified, said the MTA had not yet received approval from the company to perform the shoring up work. TRD

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